A Child Of Atom

And by Dolly Style I mean 9 to 5. Yes, it's true, for the next 6 weeks or so I will be working a standard 9 to 5 shift. It's still theatre related, I am assisting on a tour production of "Gypsy" but since the designer I'm assisting has a studio and employees, standard office hours apply. I've done the 9 to 5 thing a few times in the past, temping or doing corporate work, but it is still an adjustment to the system. Left to my own means I usually get to bed about 3 or 4, (that's a.m. mind you) and get up around 10 or 11. Being in an office downtown means I have to be on a train by 8:15, which mean out of bed by 7:30 or so. Not exactly my kind of hours. The good news is that this puts me much closer to the hours that Kid Flash keeps so going to bed at 10:30 when he normally does doesn't seem so strange. Still it's going to take some getting used to. New York city is a whole different place early in the mornings. The trains are more crowded, with commuters, but the streets are emptier. I also find it a bit mystifying that anyone would buy and egg and cheese on a roll from a street vendor, even if it is only $1.50. Hot dogs are one thing, they aren't even real meat, but dairy? Uhm... no thanks. Two days in and I also already have the office rhythm down. In at 9, coffee and email for a half hour, look around at the other projects and what everyone else did yesterday, settle in at your own desk for a while, shuffle some papers... nothing really seems to get rolling until after 10. Is that normal? Anyway... I'll be at this for a long while... so I'm sure I'll figure it all out.

Mmmmm.... seems I'm only a C-Lister, still... not bad!

I'm in Savannah this week visiting my alma mater and doing some work for them. It's the 70th anniversary of the department and they have invited several of us, including Michelle and I, to come to the school to speak, or work on productions. The production that I am designing is a remount of the first production that the school ever did, back in 1937. The school's drama department actually has a long and storied history that is only just now being rediscovered in preparation for this anniversary. For instance they performed the first integrated production of Othello south of the Mason-Dixon. Isn't that cool? No one was aware of that until just recently.

Anyway, it's been an odd trip for me. In some ways it is a homecoming, to return to the school were I worked for three years, not only to get a degree, but to design and build the sets for the shows. In other ways it is a weirdo trip to my past. Finding my handwriting still on labels in the shop, props that I built or bought still in existence, my old paint box sitting untouched and full of oil paint and brushes in the paint room as if I had just placed it there yesterday. It's been an odd few days feeling simultaneously as if I never left and that I'll never fit here again.

In the meantime I have had fun exploring Savannah again and rediscovering my life here. I've been to stores that I used to frequent, restaurants that I loved, and of course I have been running around town digging up geocaches. Sunday my mom and my sister and her husband dropped by to see me and we visited the Wormsloe Historic Site, (that's it in the picture up there). The park wasn't yet open when we arrived but I thought it would be a perfect place for a cache so we drove around the neighboring area trying to find an open wi-fi network so that I could check. We started our search in the parking lot of a Piggly Wiggly, where we found several networks, but none open. Eventually I found a hotel where I could get access. The first thing I discovered? That there is a cache in the parking lot of the Piggly Wiggly. I do love my coincidences. Turns out that Wormsloe didn't have any but there was one on the Isle of Hope nearby so we visited that before hitting the state park. (Wormsloe is lovely by the way, and I recommend a visit if you are in the area.) I've also found a few other caches around town, about one a day since I've been here. It's a fun way to keep myself occupied.

I'm here for 5 more days before returning to NYC and back to my life. I miss home already, but I'm happy to be here too.

This month my 12 of 12 happens to fall on a travel day when I was headed out to my hometown of Savannah, GA to work on a show that I had designed. My alma mater, (one of them anyway) is there and the theatre department is celebrating their 70th Anniversary so they asked back a bunch of alumni to design and direct and what-not. I started the day with one set of photos, taken on the plane, but the battery died in my camera and they were corrupted in the battery change... something to know for the future, download before changing batteries... So in actually this should be 16 on 12, but I started over when I got to Savannah. My theme for myself this months started on the plane when everything was blue. Blue seats, blue destination boards, blue everything. So I started out with blue as theme. then I got to Georgia and suddenly everything was red, so I just went with primary colors as the theme.

Welcome to Georgia! This was where I suddenly realized that 12 blue shots might be a problem, this is a shop in the airport.

My rental car is red too, so primary colors it is. This rental car is costing me for a week what one costs for a day in NYC.


The first (for this set anyway) blue shot. In NYC it was 35 degrees and sleeting. In Savannah it was 85 degrees and simply gorgeous.

Lunch! I don't know which excited me more, that I could order sweet tea without a hassle, or that it was from Chi-fil-a.

My first yellow shot a vending machine in the mall outside th Chic-fil-a.

Savannah has flowers too, everything is in bloom and already green, definitely another difference from the city.


In the theatre at the school, the big blue monster. I have no idea why the theatre is this color but it always has been, and they never let me change it.


In the shop at the theatre. Its funny how little has changed in the 6 years since I ran the place. My handwriting is still all over the place and tools I bought are still around. It's very nostalgic.


One of my first duties was to go and buy paint for the set. (Nothing onset is actually any of these colors but I needed another blue shot.)

Back at the theatre it's time to change into the paint clothes.

Backstage in the costume storage area I found my final red shot.


On the way to my prof's house, (where I'm staying) we stop off for provisions and I find my last yellow shot. Grocery stores are so freaking huge here! I had forgotten how wide the aisles are and how well stocked they are compared to Manhattan.

This project is based on an idea created by Chad Darnell, you can view other people's 12 of 12 shots here.

Long long ago, and far far away I gave up caffeine. This was during art school when I was working the over night shift at a hotel and then going to classes all day. I realized eventually that I was drinking an ENORMOUS amount of coffee, like 8 of the larger take out cops a day. (Vente in today's Starbucks parlance.) So I gave it up. Cold turkey I went off caffeine, no coffee, no tea, no soda. That actually lasted for several years until I slowly allowed it back into my life. Even now I am sort of careful about coffee and only really drink it when I "need" it. Soda on the other hand has always been a weakness for me. I try to limit myself to one 20 oz. soda a day, but that is often not the case. I know that it's bad for me. I know that it contains too much sugar. I know that it is part of the reason that I am... well... let's say "a bit plump" and leave it at that. So yesterday I decided: NO MORE SODA. I had one Pepsi in the fridge which I polished off with my dinner last night and today... no Pepsi. I passed the first test when I stopped by a store while shopping today to grab something to drink and chose water. It was a struggle for a moment, I reached for the Pepsi out of habit, but stopped myself and went for the water instead. Granted it was some fruit flavored water from Tropicana, but still... 40 calories as opposed to the nearly 250 in a 20oz Pepsi... and 4 grams of sugar instead of 69. I'll take it.

This sketch mark the (roughly) third anniversary of my subway sketching. The first was posted on April 21, 2005. (Geez, looking back at that to get the link makes me realize how much better at this I've gotten!) Since my file titles only have the month and day I had to start a new folder for them today. Here's to a new year!

Last week was my birthday. Frankly it's been a rotten week, I was working a job that was kicking my ass, including two 24 hour days and a weekend full of hour and a half train rides to Coney Island to the worksite. It was a mess.

Saturday Kid Flash had a little party for me, inviting a mixture of his friends and mine. He made homemade pizza, (delicious as always), and he even had sausage for one of the pizzas, even though he is a strict vegetarian. He also made a homemade lemon cake that was phenomenal. It was full of lemon curd, in the batter, in the frosting, and spread between the four layers. Tasty, tasy, tasty. Those are also daffodils on the table, my favorite flower. (Ain't he sweet?)

Even though I had been awake for 36 hours prior to the party I managed to keep my head out of my plate (I took a small nap before the party, I admit) and I had a great time. I got some fun gifts including some hand made stationary from KF's brother, and a new digital camera, probably to make up for the fact that I keep borrowing his for my 12 of 12 every month. It was an awesome birthday, and I had a great time. It really made up for the crappy week I had coming into things.

(Speaking of my crappy week, check my post at Metblogs about one of the worst subway rides I've ever been on.)

For those of you who have landed here searching for the recipe for Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits, (which I mentioned once forcrissakes but get a bunch of hits from) I can finally point you in the right direction. Check this out! Now go, run along.

My mom and I have decided to go to Prague this summer, hopefully to take in the Prague Quadrennial (a festival of international theatrical design that takes place every four years) and to give us both a little European adventure. I went to the PQ 4 years ago and loved it, besides falling in love with the city itself. My mom has never been outside North America, and I think Prague is a great "starter country." Lots of people speak English, the food isn't terribly scary, it's an easy city to navigate, and it has a great sampling of art and museums, and culture.

So, since deciding that this was actually financially feasible, (thanks commercial work!) I've been on the prowl for an inexpensive way to get there. Basic airfare is running about $900, which is... well... scary. After some digging around online I discovered easyjet, which seems to be a miracle on the face of things. Flights from London to Prague for 10 pounds. 10 POUNDS?! How can that be? Flights from JFK to London run about $600, plus a mere 20 pounds round trip to Prague? Count me in!

Or... maybe not. I had heard how crappy the dollar was doing in the international market, but it hadn't really impacted me, so I wasn't paying it a lot of attention. So, get this... after taxes, and the exchange rate that 20 pound flight? $110. Now, granted, taxes is a lot of that, the airfare after tax is 55 pounds, but the exchange rate certainly doesn't help matters. Still, I guess it's better than $900.

When I went to Prague 4 years ago my pension cost me $15 per night (after exchange). The cheapest I can find now is $35. I looked back at my notes from the trip but I don't see anywhere that I wrote down how much I was paying in Czech crowns for comparison unfortunately. A lot has changed in those 4 years of course. Prague joined the EU, (while I was there actually) and America went to war of course. Not to mention that the whole world pretty much hates us. So between those two things this trip is going to be a bit more expensive than my last one probably. (Thank President Bush!)

Still... I can't wait to go, I'm very excited about the whole prospect and am very anxious to show my mom the St. Charles Bridge, and The Infant of Prague, and the Old Jewish Cemetary, and, well... everything!

Dear lord did I watch a lot of roller derby this weekend. Kid Flash and I, along with a few of his friends spent the weekend just outside Philadelphia watching teams from 30 different leagues in competition. (I wrote up a lot of the technical stuff over on Metblogs if you are interested.) It was a frustrating drive down in the sleet and snow and it took a few hours longer than it should have but we spent the weekend in a posh hotel just outside Philly doing nothing much but relaxing, and of course watching derby. After a nice turn in the hot tub, and a good night's sleep we spent the next day watching more derby than I had ever seen at all up to this point. I watched 4 different bouts of Saturday, including one with the New York team against the team from Raleigh, NC. The next day it was Chicago vs NYC that kept most of our attention. It was an awesome weekend that kept us all thoroughly entertained, but in the end it was just about more derby than I could take. I did have fun though.

Just a quick note to Bailey. You emailed me yesterday or the day before and I just accidentally deleted it without having read anything beyond the first line. I apologize, but I'd love it if you'd send me the mail again.

Seriously!! Marvel's toy division wants every penny of money that I have. How cute is SHE!?!

More photos from the movie that I am building for. (Older shots here.) This is The Music Room, a couple doors down the street from the Tailor Shop, and a place for kids to take music lessons. Not quite as many details as the Tailor Shop, but still a fun build. Especially that piano, which I built from scratch! (And yes it has 88 keys.)

Again these things are 1 1/2" = 1' scale, meaning that a 6' tall person would be 7 1/2" tall in this room.

I've been invited to be one of the bloggers over at Metblogs NYC. They ask that I not cross post my entries there to another blog, but I'll let you know when I post something exciting. All of the posts there will be themed around NYC, of course. Today was my first real post, after my basic introductory one, about the Gotham Girls Roller Derby and the East Coast Derby Extravaganza in Philly this weekend.

Have I mentioned that I love derby? Have I mentioned that I plan to watch a quite a bit of it this weekend? Kid Flash and I are headed down tomorrow afternoon with a couple of his friends for two days worth of derby excitement. I can't wait!!

Well, The Tonight Show decided not to air the piece that I worked on, but it is now available on their website for your viewing pleasure. Ladies and Gentlemen... The B-Team.

I painted all the backgrounds for this made a few of the props and at the beginning when they all run to hop in the van I am puppeteering the Olsen Twins. My favorite bit is the revolving background that I created for K-Fed's scene on the scooter (it all makes sense when you watch it I promise). Enjoy!

Look! She's smiling! (Sorta...)